


La Douleur Exquise

by Nikolaus_Chaser



Series: Of Ghosts & Grimoires [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Balthazar (Supernatural), Alpha Castiel/Omega Dean Winchester, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Arranged Marriage, Birth, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Love Confessions, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Gabriel, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-23 00:09:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nikolaus_Chaser/pseuds/Nikolaus_Chaser
Summary: The Kingdom of Eden and it’s soldiers go to war. The palace is laid under siege by dark magical forces. Dean and Gabriel are forced to make a decision that will change the course of their lives forever.





	La Douleur Exquise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war begins. The Kingdom of Eden is layed under seige by dark magical forces. Dean and Gabriel will be forced to make difficult decisions that will have lasting consequences.

_ To Dean, my sweetest and most valiant wife, _

_ I am writing you now because I am afraid that I may not get another chance very soon.  These which I write to you are only a few things, dearest, of the many which we have done, and because I am not able to tell you what is in my mind, I charge you to do right, to carefully watch over the land, to do your duty as you ought to our civilians. You will certainly see me just as soon as I can possibly return to you. I trust you have received word from your brother by now of his safe arrival to the Hunterlands.  Balthazar has written me to alert me of his own return to Berea, where he is gathering troops to bring back to Fonstowne upon my instruction, which I will send shortly after I have finished this letter to you.  _

_ Tomorrow we will arrive at Fonstowne.  Today our troops have settled at an encampment on the edge of the woods, just outside of Villumie.  It is a small farming village about 30 miles and a furlong south of Eden’s border. The weather took a turn for the worse this evening, forcing our men to march through inches of mud and rainwater before we were able to find a rocky hill to settle down for the night. Though the nearby farms could offer cleaner and warmer conditions, Bartholomew and I have decided we should not ask for the civilians to quarter us again.   _

_ This is because of an experience we had two nights ago when we stopped at a cattle farm and begged food and housing for the night.  The family who ran the farm was kind to us at first, and offered what little bread and cheese they could spare to feed our men. We set up our sacks in the granary and barn, as the family did not have enough room in their house to keep all of our men.  After dusk fell, those of us bunking down in the barn were roused by some noise coming from the direction of the granary, which we soon discovered had been set ablaze by one of the farmhands employed by our hosts. It was at this point that we realized the family had been bewitched by some dark magic.  We narrowly escaped the farm, and took care when we left to cover our tracks so that none of the other villagers could follow after us. We have reason to believe now that the entire town was infected by dark magic and we were being watched and plotted against from the moment we entered that land. _

_ Lieutenant Claire Novak took a poisoned dagger to her left side in the fray.  Tragically, the injury was of a different nature than Sam’s, and she could not be saved. The dark magic spread at a startling pace.  We did our best to make her comfortable and monitored her health closely through the night. I stayed with her in her tent the entire time.  By twilight she was on the brink of death. Her death never came, though. Instead, when the sun reached its full height something in her eyes changed.  She became like an animal and attacked me. Though it causes me no small amount of grief to think of raising arms to my own soldiers, I feel that if I am to confess my sins to anybody it should be to you, my wife.  I reacted thusly, drawing my own sword against the Alpha (whom at this point I could no longer rightfully consider a human, but more of an object of the witch’s control) and removed her head from her neck. I know for sure now that this disease is the work of a dark witch, for her blood was black and her body wreaked of sulfur when she fell.   _

_ My Love, I implore you to be wary of who you trust in these dark times.  Keep an arm's distance at least from strange men, and look out for black lines crawling across the skin.  It is the tell of their sickness, and they will take care to conceal their affliction from you until it is too late to raise arms against them. _

_ It is chilly now, so I have wrapped myself in the heavy bear-skin cloak you hemmed for me at the beginning of this cold season.  It smells faintly of your scent still and I am enjoying its warmth very much. I think I will dream of you tonight; certainly, I could only hope to. _

_ Wish me the best of luck in battle tomorrow, Dean.  I think of you tenderly and often find my thoughts drifting to you and your well-being.  Give Gabriel my love as well, and tell him to take care. _

_ Yours faithfully, _

_ Cas x _

  
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_ To my worshipful husband Castiel, be this letter taken: _

_ Dear Cas, _

_ I feel so grateful to be mated with an Alpha who possesses such good faith in my capability to rule our vassals in his absence.  I can report to you with pleasure that the Kingdom has not suffered any great incidents in your absence. Our farmers have brought in the earliest of the kale harvests, and each time I am served a dish of the wretched greens I must confess that I think of you, and it brings a smile to my face.  Gabriel teases me about it to no end, but he cannot pretend that he does not miss his mate as well.  _

_ It worries me greatly to hear tell of your battles no matter how victorious you may emerge, for I cannot help but worry that you may not emerge as victorious sometime! Right worshipful and my precious Castiel, I recommend me unto you full heartedly, desiring to hear of your welfare, which I beseech Almighty God for to preserve in these dangerous times. And if it please you to hear of my welfare, I am not in good health of body nor of heart, nor shall be till I hear from you; But I have faith in you, dear husband.  I have seen you best dozens of soldiers in the practice fields, so do not take my uneasiness as a lack of faith in your abilities as a warrior. I know you will take great care to return to me safely by Midsummer, as you promised on the day of your departure. _

_ Upon the receipt of your letter I paid a visit to the family home of Lieutenant Novak.  Her Omega mate was distraught with the news. She is expecting a baby in the late spring; it breaks my heart to think of her raising the child on her own.  She expressed to me that she has a distant cousin who lives in Berea, and I have arranged for her travel expenses to be paid for by the Treasury. I did not convey to her the manner of her spouse’s death, as I felt it was too gruesome as you described it to in good conscious relay to her mate.  I found the story most troubling to read myself. I am grateful that you chose to share with me, however, and I want to assure that you should feel no guilt over your actions. I know how you agonize over these things, darling. Do you remember what I said to you after the death of our dear friend Inias?  His death was the consequence of dark magic, a terrible spell which reanimated his corpse and brought him back, possessed to kill you and the people you love. He was no more alive when you killed him than if you had dug his body from a grave and stabbed him. And, as sad as it is, this was the case for Lieutenant Novak as well.  Your heart is an empty room, but I implore you not to ruminate on this any longer for the sake of your own health. _

_ I am glad that I am able to keep you warm and offer the comfort of a mate even with this great distance between us.  Do you remember the wolf pelt you gifted me on the cold day after our wedding, on our journey from the Hunterlands to Eden’s palace? I am draped in it now-- and wear nothing else beneath it!  Imagine what pursuits we could undertake if you were only here with me, dear Alpha. Oh, darling husband, can you tell that I miss you as well? _

_ Tenderly yours and with many soft feelings, _

_ Dean _

_ PS: I spilled ink down the whole length of my leg, and was required to enlist your brother’s help in removing the dreadful stain.  He has not ceased to tease me since, and demands to know what content my letter possessed that it required me to write it in the altogether. If you find your brother has been throttled to death upon your return, this is why. _

 

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_ My Sweet Dean, _

_ Allow me to apologize for the brevity of this letter, but I am traveling between outposts momentarily and do not know when next I will get the chance to sit down and pen you a letter.  Fonstowne has been overrun by dark magic. I have no doubt that we are being monitored closely by the sorcerers responsible for this terrible necromancy. We were assaulted promptly upon our arrival to the town despite our being dressed in plain clothes and not having identified ourselves as the King’s Guard.  Three more of our men have fallen to the poisoned blades of our enemy, and I have enclosed their names in an attachment to this letter with funeral instructions for their families. _

_ In brief therefore, God willing, we shall return to you shortly. I render to you the gratitude which you deserve for your care of our kingdom and for the very great fidelity which you have shown to me.  And with the full intention of worthily rewarding your services, I ask you to continue the same. I am looking forward to my return to Eden, though I fear I may not make it back to you by Midsummer as promised. _

_ Farewell most heartily, mine own good Queen, and love me, as I love you, most fervently and without any doubt, _

_ Cas x _

 

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_ To the Right noble and valorous King Castiel, be this letter taken: _

_ Dear Castiel, _

_ A terrible plague has spread in the Lower Town.  At the time I write this letter at least two dozens of men, women and children alike have submitted to the illness.  I have ordered all those infected be brought to the palace and quarantined in the infirmary, at least until our healers can discover some treatment for the malady.  I have my own suspicions; last month the crops began to fail, and several cattle turned up mutilated. The sheriff originally suspected these incidents to be the work of roudy teenagers and shortage of rain, but I now believe that there are some darker forces at work. _

_ Should this plague continue we will have no choice but to evacuate the town.  I cannot chance that our remaining citizens will die of this sickness if it continues to spread as it already has.  Gabriel worries over me for my own health, but I have assured him as I will assure you now that I am very well despite the circumstances.  I am tired and wary, but we must all be in these terrible times. _

_ It is almost a sin how much I miss you.  I long to hear your voice, touch your skin.  I will try to write to you again soon, but I fear that the palace will need to be abandoned within the fortnight. _

_ Farewell, my all, _

_ Dean _

 

> ━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━◦○◦━

 

No letter ever arrives in response, and for two whole fortnights Dean waits upon instruction from his King before finally, he is forced to make the hardest decision he has ever made on his own.  He is so wracked with nerves as he sends out the evacuation order that he spends an hour heaving into the chamber pots. Gabriel teases him that he is turning green, but tends to him afterwards anyway like a mother tenderly cares for their child.

**Author's Note:**

> OMG GUYS!!!! It has been too long since I last shared on update from this series. A few encouraging comments inspired me to post the first chapter. I promise there will be much more! 
> 
> This installment has been in the works for quite a while. I struggled a lot with the format and getting the story out. I wrote about 10 pages and then wound up deleting it all because it was just all exposition, and I fucking HATE exposition. So I decided to borrow from a fic I was reading at the time, where the whole story was told in text messages, and use these letters between Dean and Castiel to narrate what is going on in the Kingdom of Eden.
> 
> I hope you guys like it!! The next chapter is already outlined and halfway written. I would **LOVE** to hear your thoughts and predictions. Please comment below!
> 
> Lots of love, xoxo  
> \- Nikolaus Chaser


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